


Roommates

by midnightsnapdragon



Series: Nostalgia [4]
Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Bodyguard AU, F/M, Sleepover theme, The Lunar Chronicles Ship Weeks, tlc ship weeks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 14:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8331994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightsnapdragon/pseuds/midnightsnapdragon
Summary: Linh Cinder and a specialized team of agents are tasked with keeping the Emperor out of his enemies' hands. They take refuge at an unknown hotel. Unfortunately, Thorne only booked a one-bedroom suite for the Emperor and his newly appointed personal guard.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2015 Mini Ship Weeks theme "Sleepover".

**i.**

“The room is secure,” the agent muttered, peeking past the curtains to the parking lot below. “I found two bugs embedded in the wall. Don’t like the look of that still life painting on the north side, but I’m sure it’s nothing. The others checked the hotel roof … not the best, but not too bad considering the circumstances …”

Kai watched her as she made notes, pressed an ear to the wall, paced the room. She must have been a bit younger than him, still in her early twenties, and had the sort of face that you could overlook in any crowd. Tanned, brunette – as ordinary as you could get. Except for her metal hand, which twitched just like a human one. It was a bit unnerving.

He didn’t bother asking why a painting of a flower vase would be suspicious, or what there could possibly be to learn about such an ordinary hotel room. She wasn’t talking to him. Even from his position by the closet, Kai could hear the voices buzzing from the comms device in her ear.

What did concern him was why, in the _middle of the night_ , had a group of Commonwealth agents knocked on his door and told him he was in mortal danger? And why was this group composed of a) the Blackburn spymaster, b) an army general called “Wolf”, c) a trigger-happy Frenchwoman, and apparently no one else?

Of course they had backup; a recon team had checked this hotel before letting the emperor step foot inside; there were undercover guards posing as hotel staff that stopped by their room periodically to exchange hushed words with Kai’s agent-turned-roommate.

Still. It was all very suspicious. But Torin had told him to trust them, that they were the best people to protect his life and throne. So Kai didn’t really have a choice.

His gaze snagged on his agent-roommate – he still didn’t know her name – as she stopped in her pacing in the middle of the room, the comms unit silent. For the first time, she looked a bit lost, and her eyes glazed over as if she were deep in thought.

Kai cleared his throat. She jumped.

“So,” he said, trying not to sound as irritated as he felt, “you’re being very mysterious about this.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” the agent apologized, grimacing a bit. “I can assure you that all this hassle is for good reason.”

Sure it was. “Assassins?”

“I’m afraid so.”

The agent started pacing again, from the bed to the window, the window to the bed. Back and forth. 

“What’s your name?”

The question clearly took her by surprise. She stopped pacing to look at him in bewilderment. “Er – Cinder. Your Majesty. You may call me Cinder.”

Kai’s lips twitched. “Is that your real name?”

“Well … yes and no.” A half-smile crossed her face. “I have two names. Sometimes even I can’t decide what to call myself. ‘Cinder’ is kind of an alias.”

He nodded. “I see. Then you may call me Kai.”

Cinder gave a nervous laugh. “I couldn’t, Your Majesty. It wouldn’t be proper.”

“’Your Majesty’ is kind of a mouthful, though, isn’t it? Especially if we’ll be spending the next few days in each other’s company.”

The agent only shook her head and gestured with one hand around them. “Is the room, uh, to your tastes?” She paused. “Majesty?”

Kai grinned. “Oh, yes. Though I can’t say I’m accustomed to sleeping next to someone else.”

There was a beat of silence. Cinder stared at him.

Then she slowly turned around and beheld the large queen-size mattress draped in a comforter and coverlet.

Her voice was flat. “One bed.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t noticed earlier. With all the investigation and room examination stuff, it seems like a rather big detail to overlook.”

Cinder appeared not to hear him. Smacking a hand against her forehead, she hissed, “Thorne did this on purpose.”

“What?”

She paced across the room to where her small suitcase lay, muttering “I knew I shouldn’t have let him pick the room.”

Kai shook his head. Despite the rather strange prospect of sleeping next to this intriguing young woman, her discomfort was amusing. “Well, then,” he said, bending over his own suitcase and riffling through for nightclothes, “Unless you’re done with your recon procedures, I’ll take the washroom first.”

**ii.**

Whatever Cinder had expected of an impromptu escape with the emperor, it wasn’t this.

The Blackburns were after them, that much was certain. When Cress Darnel had intercepted a message from Levana Blackburn to Sybil Mira, detailing an assassination plan, and given it to the emperor’s adviser Torin, he had ordered an evacuation of the emperor. Naturally, Cinder was given the job of heading the operation.

Typical. She always got the good-looking ones. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought that Torin was trying to set her up.

Now she loitered in the washroom doorway, unable to bring herself to approach him.

The bedside lamp was shining onto the book he held in his lap; he leaned back against the pillows, lips quirking at some fictional conversation. A red silk robe remained around his shoulders, obscuring a thin nightshirt but baring his collarbone.

Cinder swallowed. How could someone so easygoing be so hard to approach? This was the leader of a great empire, beloved by the people, not ten feet away from her. And there was only one bed.

She was pretty sure he was keeping that robe on over his nightclothes for her sake.

And it didn’t help that he was … handsome. Eyes that twinkled, a smile so much more dazzling because it was genuine; talking to him gave Cinder a fuzzy feeling. Like lying in a dandelion field on a warm day, drunk on sunshine and light breezes.

Why couldn’t she have had a few more minutes to pack her stuff? Then she could have chosen a more concealing set of clothes for her pyjamas, instead of this loose shirt and baggy soft pants. The thought of sleeping next to regal Emperor Kaito, bedhead and rumpled clothes and all, was mortifying.

When he spoke up, not taking his eyes off the pages, she flinched. “How long are you going to stand there?”

Cinder flushed and walked toward him. He was very much on one side of the mattress – did he really expect her to take the other side? “I, uh … I suppose we’ll get to sleep now.”

Emperor Kai glanced up at her. “Secret agents _sleep?_ ” he teased. “Don’t you have to stay up to make sure no assassin comes in the dead hours of the night?”

Cinder tilted her head in acknowledgement, not meeting his eyes. “Good night,” she said curtly. She walked around to the empty side of the bed and lay down on the carpeted floor, wishing she’d brought her own pillow or something.

A pause.

Then the bed creaked as the emperor leaned across, peering at her over the edge. “What are you doing?”

Cinder turned on her back to look up at him, unable to suppress a scowl. “Sleeping.”

He raised an eyebrow. “There’s enough room here for two.”

She rolled over again, turning her back on him. “No, that’s all right. I’m fine here.” Her left shoulder was already starting to cramp. “Perfectly comfortable, actually.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll each take a side of the bed. I insist.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Wouldn’t you be able to protect me better if you were closer?”

He had a point there. She clenched her teeth.

A sigh. “Cinder. I don’t bite.”

 _Cinder_. Like they were friends now. Pushing herself to her feet, she stood by the side of the bed – hesitated.

Kaito put his book on the bedside table and looked up at her expectantly.

Cinder bit her lip. “I flail in my sleep.”

He blinked. “What, are you a violent sleepwalker?”

“I have a metal leg.”

The emperor stared at her for a moment. She waited for the moment of realization, and revulsion, to cross his face, but instead his eyes brightened. To her chagrin, he began to chuckle.

It was enough to make her grumpily pull the covers aside and thump onto the mattress. “What?” she snapped.

“Nothing. If I’d known that you were going to sleep on the floor for my own well-being, I might have let you.” Kaito reached for the cord of the bedside lamp and winked at her. “But the things is, I could have sworn that I saw you blush.”

He yanked on the cord and the room went dark.

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